If They Come Back To You
by Liloexp626
Summary: Stitch goes back to Kauai after a terrible hurricane that killed most of his new Ohana in Honolulu, but he fears re-encountering Lilo, after so long of not seeing her. Does she still love him like she did four years ago? Sequel to 'When You Love Someone'.
1. Ghosts

Okay, first of all, this story is NOT ENTIRELY MINE. It's just a sequel I got for MisGelRcy's oneshot 'When You Love Someone'. If you've read that story before, then you'll understand this story, but if you haven't read it then I highly recommend you to do so. That way, you'll read a horrific Lilo/Stitch oneshot and you'll completely understand this story.

**I asked the permission of MisGelRcy before posting this and she said yes, **okay?Not stealing ideas or something like that, so don't worry. She knew about this story even before I posted, and she agreed with the idea of me writing a sequel to it.

**Thanks a lot, MisGelRcy!** I hope you will like this story :)

**EDITED VERSION**

* * *

**If They Come Back To You**

_Chapter 1_

_Ghosts_

Finally, the storm was over.

Stitch opened his eyes slowly. He felt some water still tingling on his throat, as if reminding him of how close he had been to drown. Then he looked down at the house that had been his home for about four years. Its roof was completely torn into pieces, lying on the wet ground; the windows had no glass covering them, and the walls were now just a bunch of soaked sticks.

Then realization hit him. There was no sign of Bolivia… nor Angel and his kids…

"ANGEL!" He screamed out loud. He forgot of his paining legs. He forgot of his aching arms. He just forgot of everything. He jumped off the trunks on which he had been laying unconscious for who knows how long as quickly as he could.

His feet fell first on a muddy puddle, and then his face followed. His legs weren't responding at all, but that didn't stop him. He stood up in a single jump, not as agile as usual though, and then rushed inside the remains of the house. Strangely, as he stepped inside, his mind sent him back to many memories he had of this house and the events before he moved here with Angel and their new owner. He fell into a trance, and his eyes saw no more than memories…

* * *

_Lilo's eyes popped open at exactly 9:00 P.M. to face the empty cot across her bed. Groggily, she removed herself from the bed. She rode the platform downstairs and entered inside the kitchen. Just as she did, Stitch was leaving the kitchen as well. They didn't see each other and collided with the other person. Stitch, being the strongest, fell on top of Lilo. The girl's heart stopped while his pounded faster and louder that he wondered if she would hear it._

_"Stitch?" She asked. "What are you doing?"_

_"I went to get some food. I was hungry." He replied as he gazed into those chocolate eyes. He licked his lips when his eyes feasted on her pale pink pair, just waiting to be ravished by his. "What about you?"_

_"I just wanted to eat too. Um, could you get off me?" Lilo replied, feeling her tan cheeks converting to scarlet. She didn't really want Stitch to get off her, but she didn't trust herself to be alone with him and have him on her._

_Stitch blushed, but it went unnoticeable thanks to his fur. He stood to get off her then helped her up with the pull of his hand connected with hers. They walked together inside the kitchen. Stitch remembered the tear streaks found on Lilo's face. "Lilo, what's wrong?"_

_"What do you mean? Nothing's wrong." She smiled._

_Stitch reached out to grasp her arm and pull her towards him. "Don't give me that. I've known you for six years Lilo, so I know everything there is to know about my best friend. When you're unhappy, you grab a can of raviolis, you smile way too much, your cheeks shine because of tears, and you don't have that sparkle." Stitch replied all in one breath. Lilo was surprised he noticed her like this, but decided to hide it. "If you have something to say, then say it now."_

_"Why should I say it now?" Lilo asked. _

_"I'll be leaving first thing in the morning." Stitch replied._

_Lilo felt the remains of her heart shatter. "W-What?"_

_"Angel and Bolivia are leaving. They're moving to a different island." Stitch responded, willing himself not to cry at Lilo's distressed face. "I have to go with them."_

_"Why? Can't you stay here with your ohana? Can't you just visit Angel?" Lilo asked, her voice cracking._

_Stitch sighed. "I can't do that. Angel is pregnant."_

* * *

_There he was, sitting on a chair and writing a letter for his best friend, the one who had shared so many years of her life with him and as well had fallen in love with him, just as he had fallen for her. He felt so coward, so__ filthy… writing down all of his thoughts and feelings for her on a piece of paper, instead of facing her and telling her all of those things on her face. But no. Cowardice was his shield by now, as well as this letter… probably the last one he was writing for her._

_He sighed. Bolivia and Angel were alread__y waiting for him outside in the car. The claxon rang, and then he knew the time had come. He placed carefully and almost lovingly the sheet of paper on the desk and looked for last time at Lilo… his beautiful and dearest Lilo. He didn't dare to wake her up. Last night had been terrible… probably, she hated him now. His heart trembled at the thought. This was the very last time he would see her, and he wasn't leaving her in good terms._

_A little temptation crossed his mind. _

_Should he…? _

_After all, this was his last chance…he would never see her nor even touch her__ after he stepped on that lift. _

_The claxon rang once more, this time sounding quite impatient. He bit his lower lip. He had to make a choice quickly. _

_Finally, he gave __in. He walked slowly to Lilo's bed, where she slept a troubled sleep. He could see the tear streaks that had marked her pretty face, and a sting of guilt rushed over him. He knew he was the one causing her so much pain, but he had no choice. He had already told her why, but she didn't want to understand. However, the fact that he was leaving her didn't mean that he did not love her anymore. He loved her, and very much, and there was nothing else he wanted more than staying by her side and love her forever. But he just couldn't._

_He closed his face to hers slowly, not wanting the moment to end so quickly. Just when his lips were about to brush against hers, the claxon hollered a last time, hurrying him to come down. His face snapped away from hers, and then looked at the ground to finally__ lift his eyes and look at her. His heart broke in that very moment._

"_I'm sorry, Lilo… I really am." He uttered in a whisper, and then walked to the platform. _

_However, before pressing the button that would bring him down, he ran back to her bed and pressed his lips against hers__, feeling his heart accelerating its beat inside of him, almost getting out of his body. This was his only chance, and maybe the only thing he wouldn't regret about this whole thing. He withdrew quickly and then rushed again to the lift, pressing the button clumsily and finally rushing to the door and then downstairs. The two girls and Bolivia's mom were already waiting for him._

"_I was wondering if you were still alive" Bolivia joked when he jumped into the car. "You lingered pretty long in there."_

"_I'm sorry. I was doing some last moment things…" He apologized poorly. _

_Angel purred in delight as she cuddled closer to Stitch. He put his arm around her automatically, holding her to him. Then the car ignition was turned on, and then they started moving. _

_The Pelekai house, the place that had been Stitch's home for so long, started turning littler and littler as they kept moving to finally disappear after they took a turn. He was sorry he didn't wake her up to kiss her while she was conscious. He was sorry he didn't say goodbye, but he wouldn't stand to say goodbye once more. If he had__ said goodbye, then he wouldn't have found the strength to leave his home and Lilo. He barely could stand it when he had left to pilot the BRB, but that time was different from this time. He had at least left half willingly that time. This time he wasn't. _

_His eyes filled with tears, and even though he tried his best to hold them back, he couldn't stop a little pearly tear to roll down his cheek to finally__ disappear in the fur of his cheek._

* * *

_Finally, the airp__lane had landed on the big airport of Honolulu. This was the second time Stitch was here. The city brought him several remembrances and memories of his days of experiment hunting with Lilo, because the city hadn't changed that much. Bolivia's mom had been offered a better job on this island, so that's why they had had to move to this place._

_The girl's parents were divorced, that's to say they were a broken family. She was pretty much like Lilo: lonely and sometimes considered as a weird girl. However, thanks to Angel she was never alone, and then with Stitch joining their family and the soon-to-come pups, the family had grown even bigger. When she met Lilo and Stitch, they made her promise that she would never tell anyone about the experiments, so Angel passed as her dog ever since she was allowed to keep her, and now it would be the same with Stitch.__ The only one besides them that knew of the existence of aliens was Bolivia's mom, but she had no problem with having aliens in her house._

_They waited until their luggage was brought to them. __Then they went out to take a taxi while they waited for Bolivia's car to be brought._

"_To Kalihi Street, corner with Dillingham Boulevard, please." Bolivia's mom asked the taxi driver, who only nodded and started the ignition. The place wasn't very far away. It was about two miles away from the Honolulu International Airport, so they didn't have too much trouble finding their new home. _

_It was in an astounding suburb, with several palm trees framing the road and huge ornamental ferns under them. Stitch was quite impressed by this. He had never imagined he'd live in such a place__. Their house wasn't very big, but it was beautiful. Its walls were yellow-colored, and it had a little backyard with green, fresh grass. The windows were big and let a lot of light inside the house, and the front yard had several beautiful flowers to adorn the place._

_Angel smiled as she leaned her head over Stitch's shoulder._

"_This is it. The place where our kids are going to be born and where they'll grow up. Isn't it beautiful?"_

"_Uh, yeah… it's beautiful…" __Stitch murmured. Of course the house was stunning, but it wouldn't be the same than his old house back in Kauai because his old ohana wouldn't be there… especially Lilo._

_He shook his head. He wasn't going to torment himself with old memories of his former life. He had started a new one, and he wouldn't give it up. He had to live the present and stop living in the past so he could keep moving forward. He looked down at Angel's abdomen, which was growing bigger by day. He put his hand there, and then Angel's followed. He would not give up his kids either. They needed him, and he knew that. _

_And since that day, he vowed to himself that he would not remember his former life or Lilo. He would restart as if nothing had happened before he came here. _

_But Lilo's memory never left him, even though he had promised…_

* * *

"_Hurry up, Daddy! I want to be the first one to get to the beach!"_

_Stitch's youngest daughter, Aleia, was already waiting outside for him with her older brother, Kenny. Everybody was waiting outside for Stitch, the only one remaining inside the house. Bolivia would take them all to the beach in the old Chevrolet van while Bolivia's mom wasn't home. She was already sixteen, and she had a special permission to drive, so she knew how to take advantage of her special license. _

"_Coming!" __Stitch shouted from inside his and Angel's room. He grabbed his towel and then finally rushed downstairs to meet his family._

"_Hey Daddy, you delayed ages in there!" Aleia said playfully as she grabbed her dad's hand and brought him into the van. Stitch smiled at her and kissed the top of her head. They weren't older than one year and they already had a lot of energy._

_Little Kenny had dark purple fur, and his body structure resembled a lot to his father's, but his temperament was very much like Angel's: calm and quiet. Aleia was still a little girl, so her curves hadn't appeared yet, but her body would look like her mom's someday, and she had long antennas as well. _

_However, she__ kept more resemblance to her dear daddy. Her fur was almost the same color as Stitch's, only a little lighter, and her faces were sometimes very much like Stitch's, as well as her temper. She loved as well coconut cake, but unlike to her dad, she hated coffee. She liked coke a lot better, and it had almost the same effects that coffee had had on Stitch when he had been younger._

_Finally, they got to the beach. The kids went out quickly and then rushed to the water to swim. They hadn't inherited their father's great molecular density, so they could swim as much as they wanted. Then Bolivia and Angel went out and Stitch got out at last. The girls went to extend their towels on the sandy ground to take a rest and watch the kids, and Stitch went to the edge of the beach to play a little with his kids there. _

_After a while, he let them play by themselves and then just sat there, letting the sea to touch his feet. He was pretty tired by then, maybe because he hadn't eaten anything, but the kids seemed to be as full of energy as always. He closed his eyes for a while and then let his mind wander everywhere. He was thinking about a lot of random things when Lilo popped into his mind. _

_His eyes opened suddenly, and the smile on his face faded away. It had been nearly one year since he had last se__en her, but it had been less since she had last come to his mind. He thought of her almost everyday, indirectly or directly, but there was always something that reminded him of her. _

_For example, last Christmas. Bolivia's aunt and cousins had come over to visit them for the holidays. Aleia had befriended the youngest girl, who was six years old. When he watched them playing together, he remembered the old days when he and Lilo would play like these kids._

_But these days were gone for__ever. He would never see her again, and he knew that. He sighed as he lifted his eyes to the horizon and then let them move to the water. He wondered briefly if the water he was touching had already been touched by her. _

"_What a stupid thing" he thought "I promised myself I would never think of my old life again, and here I am, remembering her. How much I wish I had Amnesio around here…"_

"_Boojibu?"_

_He whirled his head to see a smiling Angel behind him. She sat beside him and watched as their kids played in the water._

"_Everything okay? I see you're quite thoughtful."_

"_Yeah, I'm okay… just wondering about a few things." Stitch replied. He took Angel's hand and kissed it, while she only giggled and rested her head on Stitch's shoulder. She loved him, and he knew that. For their sake… he really shouldn't be thinking about his past when he already had this: a family he should take care of. Besides, he loved Angel, if not as a lover, at least enough not to want to hurt her with those thoughts of his. He would promise again, but it was to no avail. He knew he would always remember Lilo, no matter what…_

* * *

"_Daddy, who's this?"_

_Stitch turned his head to see Aleia showing him a photo. He looked carefully at it and felt his heart stinging. It was one of those old photos of Lilo and him hugging._

"_Oh… you don't know her." H__e replied calmly as he turned around to move some boxes around, trying to avoid the question. They had been arranging Bolivia's attic to make out of it a room for Aleia, since she couldn't share the same room that her brother used, since they had grown older and needed their own space. In experiment years, she was still eight years old, but she was very intelligent for that age._

"_Still, I want to know…" She insisted. "__Here's another photo."_

_Stitch turned once more his head, this time to see a photo of Lilo's 12th birthday, the last in which he had been there. In the picture, he was shown kissing Lilo's cheek, and her face seemed to be turning a little red._

"_Who's she?" __Aleia asked again. Stitch sighed as he sat on one of the boxes._

"_Well, she's Lilo. She was my best friend. We know each other since I was a pup and since she was a six-year-old girl. She taught me all of the things that now I'm teaching you about Ohana."_

"_And what happened to her? If she was your best friend, why did you leave her? Wasn't she your Ohana?" Aleia asked, seemingly confused. Stitch dropped his eyes._

"_Well, you know… it's a very long story. I had to leave because your mother was pregnant and I had to take care of all of you, and well… I kind of… didn't want to be a burden for her and my old family."_

"_Oh… I see." T__he little alien girl sighed and then went back to arrange the old things in there. In the following three hours she stayed there, she found more photos, but she didn't tell anything to her father. Instead, she watched them carefully and read the things that some of them read on the back part. When Bolivia's mom called everybody for dinner, she asked them to bring her food upstairs so she would eat there, and nobody complained about it. _

_That same day, Stitch and Aleia finished arranging the things of the attic and brought her bed and stuff to her new room. Then that night, when she had to get into bed, Stitch went into her room to read her bed story. It was a routine they had: Angel would go with one of the kids, and Stitch would go with the other. This time, it had been Aleia's turn to be with Stitch. After he finished reading her__ bed story, he kissed her forehead and started walking away._

"_Daddy, wait!" __Aleia called suddenly. Stitch stopped and walked back to Aleia's bed._

"_What's wrong, honey?" H__e asked. Aleia sat up on her bed and fidgeted nervously with her fingers._

"_About that girl… Lilo, right?" She asked. Stitch nodded, getting quite nervous._

"_Yeah, what about her?"_

"_I wanted to ask you something until mom wasn't around…" She started. She sighed and then went on. "Did you love her?"_

_Stitch hesitated for a split of second, but then nodded quickly._

"_Of course I loved her. She was my best friend!" He said._

"_No, that's not what I mean. I mean, did you love, love her? Like more than just a friend?"_

_Stitch was silent again for a few moments, and then talked again._

"_Why?"_

"_Because I found more photos of you two and your old family… but mostly of you two. It kind of looked like… I don't know if I'm right, but… it seemed like you two loved each other a lot."_

_Stitch gulped, but with the silence around the room it was clearly heard. He knew he couldn't lie to her, because she would realize of it. He sat down on her bed and took her hands in his._

"_Look, Aleia, this is very delicate, and I don't want you to tell this to anybody, especially your mother…" He stopped for a few moments and then went on. "I was in love with Lilo. Very much in love, but I couldn't be with her because she's human and I'm not. The worst of all things is that she returned the feeling. I tried very frequently to avoid her, to convince myself that the one I loved was your mother, and don't get me wrong, because I do love her. It's just that I loved Lilo… in a different way. Then your mom got pregnant, and I had to leave with her. Lilo was distraught, and we discussed the last night I was there. I haven't seen her for four years now…"_

_By then, Aleia's eyes were wide open, as well as her jaw. Stitch looked at her and shook slightly her hands._

"_Please promise me you won't tell this to anyone, Aleia… not even your brother." Stitch said, knowing of how sensible Kenny was despite being the oldest one of the two. _

_Aleia nodded slowly.__ "I… promise."_

_And so it had been. Aleia kept her promise and never told anyone about her dad's secret._

* * *

Stitch finally came back from all those memories. He remembered again he was there to look for his family, so he didn't lose any more time. He rushed into the remains of the kitchen and started moving away the beams that now covered the floor. Nobody was there.

He dashed to the stairs then, but there were no stairs anymore. He had to climb the walls to get to the next level very carefully so he wouldn't fall. It was a miracle the walls didn't just fall apart. He got into Kenny's room, but there was no sign of him. He moved away frantically the thick sticks from the floor, and then what he saw took his breath away from his body.

Kenny was there, laying motionless on the floor.

"Kenny!" Stitch barely could gasp. He fell onto his knees and took his son in his arms, but the kid didn't move anymore. Stitch ran his fingers through his son's dampened fur, unmaking the tangles that had gotten there. He cried silently to himself, realizing that there was nothing else he could do. He laid the kid gently on the floor, willing himself not to cry and remembering himself that he still had to find the rest of his family.

He stumbled to the next rooms, first Bolivia's and then his and Angel's room, but he found nothing in there. He climbed down once more to the first level, trying to seek for them in the places he had just skipped, but again, nothing. Then he noticed that the door that led to the garage was half opened. Maybe they had entered there…

He walked this time, instead of running. He didn't know if he was growing tired or if he was afraid of finding what he had found in Kenny's room, but that didn't matter too much. To his horror, when he got there, the whole garage had come down. There was no light inside there, and the only thing that stopped the ceiling from touching the floor were the remains of Bolivia's van.

"Angel! Bolivia! Aleia!" He called out with a hoarse voice, but he got no response. With his last strength, he started lifting the ceiling, and then some light was let in, and then he saw it.

Angel and Aleia laid lifeless in a muddy puddle, apparently dead.

Stitch let out a painful cry, and then he just let go of the ceiling and went to the place where the bodies laid down. He finally let out his heart, crying as he held his girls, one his boojibu and the other one his little girl, his Aleia.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" He barely whispered in a soft cry, and then held them closer to him. "I'm sorry I didn't save you… I should have… I had to… if only I had been here when you needed me… but I wasn't…"

"Uhh… daddy…"

His breath cut all of sudden when he heard that childish voice. He immediately pulled the girls away and looked at Aleia's face, whose eyes were struggling to open. He felt like screaming with joy, jumping until his head hit the remains of the ceiling, but he knew he had to get Aleia to somebody who would know if something was wrong with her. He held her close meanwhile, his tears slipping into his daughter's fur.

"Oh, honey… everything will be okay… don't worry, we'll make it through…" He said, looking at Angel's dead body, feeling his chest clench with anguish. The girl loved her mom a lot, and he knew it would be hard for her to keep moving forward without Angel with them or her brother. But right now, the most important thing was that she was alive, and he needed to get her with somebody who knew experiments perfectly…

"We've got to bring you to Jumba… and go back to Kauai." He murmured into his daughter's fur, lifting her from the ground. He started walking out of the house, but his mind was already in Kauai. He would see his old Ohana again… and that included Lilo.

_Lilo…__what am I going to do when I see her again?_

* * *

**So far, I've got chapter 2 almost done, but I'm not posting it until maybe next week. I'll go camping in a very far away place (La Sierra Norte de Puebla) with a group of young people from church, so don't expect to hear anything from me during these days until Friday of next week. I hope you all liked it so far.**

**I thought that it might seem like Aleia was Stitch's favorite kid, but that's not the case. I only showed a close up of the relationship she has with her dad because she was the only one of the pups who would survive to the hurricane, so you could get to know her better. I hope you'll grow to like her as the story goes on.**

**Okay, I guess I have nothing else to say...so please R&R!**

**P.S. Aleia's name doesn't mean anything in Hawaiian, unlike to the Lilo/Stitch kids' names I got in 'Bring back my Angel'. I only liked that name for her. I sounded kind of cool to me XD.**


	2. Broken glass

Augh! I finally went back into school today. Oficially. DX My vacation time seemed SO short this year...! I hate it D8 You all lucky guys who are going back to school till september, enjoy your vacation as long as you have it.

But the good thing is that I got to see my old friends again... well, some of them, because some others moved to another school. Dang, I felt so alone this day ): but oh well, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna make new friends this year.

I'm sorry to tell you that it's very likely I'll have even less time to write and update the next chapters of my stories; I've gotta be better at school this year. However, I'll keep doing my best to write when I have the time to do it (and I hope I have enough time to do it, LOL).

**Thanks to you all who have been reviewing this story and 'If I never met you'! Your reviews are really encouraging to me :D**

**Disclaimer: **_I do NOT own this story (...at all). It belongs to MisGelRcy as well. The two songs I used for this chapter are property of Elvis (or his ghost... or his zombie, LOL, idk)._

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**If They Come Back To You**

_Chapter 2_

_Broken glass_

_It's a sin, my darling  
How I love you  
Because I know  
Our love could never be_

_It's a sin  
To keep this memory of you  
When silence proves  
That you've forgotten me_

_The dreams I built for us  
Has tumbled  
Each promise broken  
Like my heart__…_

"Lilo?"

Sixteen-year-old Lilo dropped suddenly the photo she was holding in her hand. She sat up on her bed and took off the needle from the record. Then she turned her face to look at Nani.

"What's up, Nani?" She asked lightheartedly. Nani entered the messy room and then leaned against the wall.

"I've called you like five times to come help us cleaning the house."

Lilo's smile turned into a puzzlement look.

"Oh, really? I-I didn't hear you. Really… I'm sorry."

"Yeah, whatever…" Nani said as she puffed heavily and then brought her hand to her abdomen, which was quite big now. "A pregnant woman isn't that helpful around there lifting fallen beams and else, so you'll have to take my place."

"Aww, right." Lilo protested playful. "I'll be there in a second. Just give me some time. I think I'm gonna call Calan over to come help us." she said, but Nani was already gone.

She sighed and then looked at the photo, which had fallen onto the floor. She bent down and then picked it up and then put the needle on the record again. It was a good thing that Jumba had prepared the house to resist the strength of the hurricane, so they could live almost comfortingly inside it without having to go to any refuge. Of course, they hadn't any electrical energy, but that wasn't such a big problem. Jumba would always have an idea to solve the problem

Elvis' voice drifted in the room once more, and then she took the picture once more to look at it thoroughly. The blue furred alien appearing there, smiling to the camera as he held a younger Lilo in his arms made her let out a sad sigh. How much she still missed him. She still loved him a lot, even though she knew they could never be together as she had dreamed before when she was younger… before he left with Angel.

"_It's a sin, my darling  
How I love you  
So much in love  
And yet so far apart_

_I'm sure you're happy with another  
Who shares the love I cannot win  
Why pretend that I can live without you  
When deep inside I know that it's a sin…"_

_A sin… would it be really that? _She thought when the room came into silence once more, like asking herself the question. She shook her head. _Well, it would kind of be something bad… after all, thinking about another person when you are starting to date somebody else…it's not a good thing, that's for sure._

She stood up in a jump and went out of the room, and then out of the house that had been their refuge while the hurricane was passing over the island. She had forgotten that there was no telephone line to call Calan, so she would have to go to his house to ask him for some help.

As she walked around the little town she knew as Kokaua, her eyes found several houses torn to pieces. The habitants of the island were already used to see hurricanes, so the process of rebuilding houses and buildings wasn't such a new issue for them. Even though this had been the worst hurricane they could remember, it didn't stop them from helping their neighbors to rebuild their houses. Nobody had electricity yet, and the phone lines weren't very helpful either, but that would be gone in a few weeks, if they were lucky. She had been about to fall to the ground several times because of the wet pavement and the mud, but she could keep her feet stuck to the ground.

She could see several experiments helping around to rebuild the fallen houses and buildings while she made her way to Calan's. All of the experiments living in Kauai had managed to survive their first hurricane by going into the several caves in the island. Lilo had begged Nani to let them inside, but the house hadn't been made for 623 experiments, so only the most defenseless had stayed inside. Fortunately, all of them had made it and now were helping to rebuild their homes. Lilo was glad of this, but had asked Jumba to build some kind of refuge so when the next hurricane came they could be safe in a place where 623 experiments fitted in with enough comfort, but they couldn't start building it until they finished fixing their home.

She looked up at the cloudy sky and then took a deep breath, smelling the air. She loved that aroma of moist soil. It made her feel tranquil…

Finally, after some more minutes of walking, she got to Calan's house. Surprisingly, it wasn't as torn as several other houses she had seen on her way, but it was almost complete except for a few parts of the roof that seemed to have stuck out of their place. She knocked at the black screen door and then a young looking man opened the door. He smiled as he opened up his arms to Lilo, who embraced him warmly.

"Hey Lilo!" He greeted fondly. "What's up?"

Lilo pulled away, still holding her smile on her face. "Well, there's no telephone line. Any better idea?"

Calan laughed lightheartedly. "A smoke signal should do."

Lilo smacked him on the arm playfully. "Nah, really? Well, I just wanted to ask you if you'd want to help us over with cleaning up our house." Calan looked around at the many people his father had hired to clean up their house.

"Well, it's not like they need me here. Let's go." He said as he took Lilo's hand and then leaded her to the street. Lilo blushed a light scarlet and smiled nervously at him. They walked for a few minutes more and then got to Lilo's house.

There wasn't too much to do, but Calan helped gladly, most of times trying to be stuck to Lilo. She always smiled at him and then continued her work diligently, picking up fallen beams with his help and collecting other stuff. They were almost done when everything was starting to get dark and night started to fall upon them. Calan kissed Lilo goodbye and then headed for his house, leaving a smiling Lilo behind. She turned on her heels and then entered the house to finally get into the dome and drop onto her bed. She turned several times on her bed and started thinking about several things, especially Calan.

She was starting to like the boy a lot, and maybe if it hadn't been for the hurricane they could have become more than just friends in that lapse of time. However, she was afraid deep inside. Since Stitch had left, she had avoided every boy who would want to be more than friends with her, even Keoni, who had asked her to be his girlfriend about two months after her best friend had left. She was hurt, and she knew that, but she couldn't get over the loss of Stitch, but overall, the reason of his depart. She cried at nights into her pillow, and then at mornings she would sigh sadly at the sight of the old cot, left alone and empty. However, when Calan came into her life, he had seemed to give her a brand new heart, and now she was getting over it… or at least, it _seemed_ to be that way.

She sighed. She put her pillow to her face, trying to shut off her confusing thoughts, but it would be to no avail. Finally, not being able to handle it, she stood up and walked to her wardrobe. She kept moving things around until she pulled out of it a little cardboard box. She opened it carefully. It was quite old now, so she should be careful with it. She stared at the piled contents for a moment and then stood up on a jump. She stopped for a few seconds to go to her record player and play the disc upon it and then dropped onto her bed once more.

The contents of the box were scattered across her bed. There were several things she would always take out whenever she felt alone and sad, but this time she was looking for something different. Finally, she came up with the yellow piece of paper she was looking for. She opened it carefully and started reading it. It had been years since she had last read that letter, and she had just felt the sudden need of reading those words she knew she would never actually hear from _him._

_As I read the letters that you wrote to me  
Well it's you, it's you that I'm thinking of  
As I read the lines that to me were so sweet  
I remember our faded love__…_

She remembered how the day she had found this piece of paper on the desk she had immediately thought on tearing it up to little, meaningless pieces of trash. She couldn't tell if she was glad that she had stopped herself, but at least she didn't regret it. The words written on this paper were bittersweet to her. They told her that she and Stitch could never be together, but as well kept reminding her that at least he had the feelings she thought he would never have for her._  
_

_I miss you darlin' more and more everyday  
As heaven would miss the stars above  
With every heartbeat, I still think of you  
And remember our faded love__…_

How hard it had been to move on without her best friend beside her. Mertle and the other girls hadn't teased her like the last time Stitch had left, but loneliness alone was more than painful. She wondered everyday how would Stitch's life be without her. She knew that while she was thinking about him, he would probably be in Angel's arms, watching as their kids played together in their new home. She had felt bitterness towards Angel for quite a long time, but she had finally understood that it was doing no good to her. Anyway, she would never see him again. Getting sad over this was a fool thing to do, she had thought several times…

_As I think of the past, all the pleasures that we had  
As I watch the mating of the doves  
It was in the springtime that you said goodbye  
I remember our faded love_

She remembered the night when Stitch had told her the reason of his depart. Her heart had been permanently broken since that day. She had thought it had been burnt and that she hadn't a heart anymore since that night, but as time went by she discovered it had been just as broken as many times before. She realized of it because every morning, when she would look at the empty cot in her room, every piece of her broken heart would hurt with longing and nostalgia, but then she always denied her pain. She had no heart, she would say, but true was that it was still broken, and nobody had been good enough to stick the pieces together again, not even Calan._  
_

_I miss you darlin' more and more everyday  
As heaven would miss the stars above  
With every heartbeat, I still think of you  
And remember our faded love__…_

She found herself with a tear rolling down her cheek after the King's voice had faded away. She wiped it away hastily. She wasn't going to let this get her sad and moody again. She hadn't even started to read the letter and she was already crying.

She contemplated on leaving the letter inside the box again and going to sleep, but there was something inside her that wouldn't let her sleep until she read that letter. Finally she gathered all of those things inside the box and left the letter alone on her bed, waiting to be opened and read. She got under the warm blankets and leaned her head over her snowy pillow. She read over and over the words, feeling a bitter pang inside her chest at certain lines and at the same time getting a warm feeling at other lines.

"…_IF I even stand an inch near you, I just want to lock you in tight in my arms and never let you go. You won't believe this Lilo, but I've fallen in love with you…_

…_When I saw you again with Reuben and Gantu, I was thrilled to see your beaming face as you run into my arms. It was that moment when I never wanted to let you go. When I came back for Earth, I started having awkward feelings around you…_

…_I'm telling you this because I know you love me the same way…_

…_I can also see the way you look at me. Haven't you noticed I look at you the same way? If our love weren't forbidden, then it would've been you I run away with. I've had dreams of it…_

…_I know I killed you, but I also know that someday, you'll find someone else that will love you as much as I can. You are beautiful, sweet, and generous, among many other things that I found interesting in you. Someone will fall for you and you will love them. I just wish that person could be me…_

…_Open up to another and let them guide you through life. Though I may not be by your side anymore, that doesn't mean I don't love you. I do love you Lilo, forever and for always. I just wish I had the courage to tell you this many years ago. I love you and I don't want you to forget that…_

_Forever yours, _

_Stitch."_

More tears had come trailing down Lilo's cheeks. She wept as she read those lines, wishing she had heard them from Stitch's lips. Why did it always happen that when she was alone the thoughts she tried to avoid during the day always came to her, hitting her with extreme strength? Why her true feelings had to show up right when she was alone? And over all, why did they keep hurting the same?

"Why can't I just fall in love with someone else? And why, of all persons, it had to be YOU I fell for?" Lilo thought aloud, weeping softly, though wanting to cry out her thoughts, hoping that Stitch would hear. But her cries kept as a murmur, without going out of her room.

She placed the sheet of paper right on her night table, fearing it would get wet with her tears. After that, she turned off her lamp and then brought her knees to her chest, blankets already covering her body. She faced the darkness of the room, being broken only by a moonbeam that came into the room by the window. The stars were already twinkling on the sky weakly, though beautifully. It was true what people used to say. After the storm, everything gets calmer, though not for her. She felt her insides storming as fiercely as the hurricane that had just passed over her home… a storm that had been going on by four years now.

She hugged her knees tightly and then closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Calan looked at Lilo with blue concerned eyes, observing as the girl shook her head.

"Not at all. I guess I'm just going to get a cold or something, but that's all. No worries."

She had been about to turn around and leave. After all, Nani had wanted her to be home for lunch so she could keep helping them doing the last arrangements, and she would be late if she didn't leave right now. However, Calan took her by the arm and pulled her to him so she would face him.

"Don't worry, I'll take you home." He looked at her for a few seconds more and then let her go. Both teenagers climbed inside the car and then Calan started the ignition. The motor growled as they started driving down the way. There was complete silence for a few seconds until the boy managed to say something.

"Lilo, what's wrong?"

Lilo flinched slightly when she heard the question she feared he would ask. She put on the best smile she could fake and looked at him.

"What do you mean? I'm just getting a cold, that's all. There's nothing to worry about."

"Please don't give me that." Calan replied, frowning slightly with worry. "Aren't we supposed to be friends?"

"Yeah, we ARE friends."

"Then why won't you tell me just what's wrong with you? Because I know that it's not just a cold, and that's for sure. I know there's something more you don't want to tell me."

He heard Lilo sighing in defeat and waited patiently until the words formed correctly in her head to speak them aloud. However, it went out as a weak murmur.

"Stitch…"

His eyes went as big as plates. A red light came to their way and the car stopped. Taking advantage of the momentary stop, he turned his head to stare at Lilo with concern.

"Oh… so it's about him again."

Lilo nodded. He let out a heavy sigh and then took her hand. The red light kept bright ahead.

"Look Lilo, I know you miss him a lot and that it pained you that he left, but you've gotta let go of that kind of things. People keep coming in and out of our lives, and we gotta learn to let them go, because if we don't it'll keep hurting us. You know what people say: when you love someone, you gotta let them go…"

The green light finally appeared and a few cars started advancing. Lilo looked at Calan as his hand detached from hers to move onto the velocity lever.

"If they come back to you, they were always yours; if they don't, they were never yours. I know. I've heard that one too." Lilo said, sadness filling her tone. _If only he knew…_

"Well, that's the point. Promise me you'll be okay?" Calan asked with a worried tone. Lilo let out a little smile.

"Promise." She said and then she planted a kiss on his cheek. Calan was a good friend. Maybe she could finally let go of Stitch's memory and fall in love with someone else sooner than she thought. After all, he was right. She had to build up a life of her own, just like Stitch had done with Angel.

She looked at Calan for a brief moment and noticed his flushed cheeks. Boy, did he like it whenever she would hug or kiss him…

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly. That day the arranging was finally done and everybody could finally take a good rest, which made Lilo extremely relieved. Calan had been indeed very helpful around home and thanks to him everything had been quicker; Nani thanked him several times for his help, but Lilo could sense she was doing far more than thanking him. After all, Nani had told Lilo that Calan was a good boy and that she would like it if she had a boyfriend like him. Nani was playing matchmaker with her and Calan, and she knew that, but the curious thing was that, in fact, she kind of liked it.

The sky was already tinted of orange, and the first stars were starting to appear in the dark velvet of the sky. Lilo accompanied Calan to the door after he had dinner with them, both remaining completely alone when they were outside. Lilo gave him a warm smile and a thankful hug before he went downstairs, and he returned the hug lovingly. She pronounced a soft 'be safe' before he pulled away and looked into her eyes.

Seconds later, he was already kissing her on the lips. Lilo remained shocked the whole while; she didn't even kiss him back, she simply remained still. Calan pulled away, feeling she hadn't responded to the kiss. He said something inaudible before going downstairs clumsily. Lilo watched as his car went away and then brought her index to her mouth, not quite believing it.

She didn't even remember the moment she entered the house again to go into the dome; the last thing she knew was that she dropped onto her bed, still touching her lips in awe. She grabbed a little mirror from her night table and then looked at her reflection. Her cheeks were exaggeratedly red, and her face had an expression of complete shock. The worst of all was that she wasn't even sure if she had liked it. She covered her head with her pillow and closed her eyes, falling asleep after a couple of minutes.

The sound of the doorbell woke her up three hours later. She thought about ignoring it and going back to sleep, but she was slightly thirsty as well. Groggily, she stepped on the platform of the lift and then made her way to the kitchen.

Pleakley had already answered the door while Jumba was watching TV. She was still half asleep by the time she heard the commotion at the door, so she had ignored it at first. When she finally drank her glass of water she was fully awake, so she couldn't ignore it anymore. By then, Jumba was at the door as well. She walked closer to see what the big deal was and then her chocolate eyes found ebony black eyes by the first time in four long years.

The glass fell to the floor, breaking into thousands of shiny, sharp pieces.

* * *

**Please R&R! Sorry for the short chapter. It's 11:45 pm over here, so I should be in bed right now if I wanna be early at school tomorrow. See ya later!**


	3. Open scars

I'm baaaaaaaaack again! xD LOL, really, I've been having a tough time at school. Now I don't even want to imagine what it will be like when I get to have a JOB (faints). Anyway, here it goes: the next chapter for this story. Hope I didn't make you all wait THAT much.

**Ted:** Thanks a lot for the nice review :) I'm glad you're liking this story so far, as well as other people. Sorry to know that you felt that the song slowed down the chapter, but I wanted SO badly to put that song in the chapter. After all, a "Lilo & Stitch" story should have at least ONE song of Elvis, and besides, I thought it fitted perfectly the way Lilo felt at that moment. Thanks again and yes, this is the same Calan boy from MisGelRcy's "Rekindled Love" (don't worry, I asked her permission to use the character here). And no, he's NOT going to be a nice guy (for all of you guys who asked if he was going to be a nice guy). I know he might seem like one by now, but in the following chapters... ehrm... just keep reading and you'll see xD

**123qaz: **Yep, those are pretty good points and the ones that will make the story get interesting (or at least I hope so). Thanks for the nice review ;) and I'm glad you're liking this!

**VoxAdam: **True. When you love someone, you don't hurt them... or at least NOT on purpose. We always do hurt those we love, but most of time it happens with us not noticing or because we really had to do something that eventually would end up hurting those loved ones, which is what happened to Lilo and Stitch.

I think I didn't touch the "angel" theme in this story (at least not yet) because in first place, Lilo had already given up on Stitch. She thought she was never going to see him again and so there was no point in thinking of him as her angel. After all, he broke her heart once more, the same he had already fixed and then broke it again when he left with Angel. How could she possibly think of him as her angel anymore? Yes, she's a forgiving person, but she's trying to be realistic too.

And yes, this story should be situated around the years 2012-2013. If these last hurricanes have been the worst hurricanes ever, just then imagine the ones that are still to come... it kinda makes me shiver.

Thanks for the review! And I'm keeping my eyes on the ball too (which might be the reason of why I don't update that often anymore)...!

**kinger810: **Thanks! And here you go with this chapter!

**stitch8000: **Aww, thanks a lot! ^^

**stitcherbell: **LOL xD Don't worry, it happens to all of us. We don't realize of something after a good while. Thanks a lot and glad you like this story!

Anyhoo... enjoy!

* * *

**If They Come Back To You**

_Chapter 3__  
Open scars_

"Do not be worrying, 626. Little… eh, Pup? ...is being alright; just a few bruises and cuts. She will just need for to be resting a couple days or less."

Stitch nodded and then Jumba gave the girl back to her father, who cradled her in his arms like a baby. Aleia was sound asleep, though her sleep didn't seem to be a peaceful one. It looked more like she was having a nightmare for the way she whined and twisted in her sleep. Stitch looked down at her worriedly, wondering what she was dreaming about. She didn't know what had happened to her mother and brother yet. She had been sleeping the whole way to Kauai, so he hadn't told her yet a thing about the latest happenings.

Jumba looked at Stitch and his daughter as a sad smile formed in his face. It had been a long time since he had last seen his little 626, and now as he looked at him, realization hit him. He wasn't a naïve pup anymore; he even had had a family of his own. He had had a boojibu and children and he already had got a new home. He had missed seeing his little creation and had wished he would see him someday again, along with Angel and the kids he knew they had procreated, but he had never imagined it would be this way… that he would see only Stitch and one of his kids.

Lilo was sunk in her own thoughts, too. Her insides and mind were spinning like a tornado. After all, this all had fallen on her like a ton of bricks. In first place, she thought she would never see Stitch again, and in second place, now she was discovering that her best friend from her childhood and the one she had fallen for was already a father.

Of course she had known it, from the first day he had left, but it became even clearer as she looked at the little experiment in Stitch's arms. How much she looked like him. How only a whine from her had been enough to make Stitch caress her cheek and whisper comforting things to her. How much… he loved her. She could see it in his eyes; he loved his little daughter beyond of measure. It was quite a shock as well to see that, because this was a different kind of love she was seeing from him, a facet of his that she had never seen before.

And then her feelings were very confusing right now as well. She knew she had missed him so much, and yet, she didn't know how to feel at that moment. Ecstatic because he was back? Mad at him because he left and never tried to even contact her? Sad because of the loss of his new family? Or maybe feel like this could be a new chance? Actually, it was a mix of all of those, and it bedazzled her more than she wanted it to.

Stitch's voice broke the dominant silence. "So… where are we staying tonight?"

"Jumba is thinking: maybe 626 and little kid could spend night in Jumba's spaceship?" Jumba suggested.

"No."

Stitch's eyes turned to the source of the voice. Lilo went on. "I mean, it's not like he should be out there when he's got a room in the house. We can figure out what to do with the girl when we're in there."

"Ah, well, then so it be." Jumba agreed, and then they all headed back to the Pelekai household. Stitch walked behind of Jumba and Lilo, just following them in complete silence with a sleeping Aleia in his arms. He felt like he'd collapse at any moment of tiredness, but he had to keep walking.

"Hey, need some help?" He heard Lilo's voice right ahead of him. His eyes immediately directed to her. "I could help you with…"

"Aleia."

"Yeah. I could help you with Aleia." She offered.

Stitch had been about to turn the offer down, but he did really need some help, or he'd collapse right there. Slightly hesitant, he passed the pup to Lilo, who wrapped the girl with her own jacket and cradled her as if she had a very fragile glass figure instead of a kid. They avoided eye contact with each other. Neither of them knew what to do, so there was an awkward feeling around them the whole way to the house and then to the room.

Pleakley had gone to bed earlier than usual; the impact had been too much for him to bear and he had said that he needed to have some rest. Nani had gone out with David somewhere, so that meant that the house was almost empty.

Lilo stepped on the lift platform first, and then Stitch followed. Now that Lilo was bigger than last time Stitch had been there, they were huddling a lot more than they used to inside the lift tube. That didn't help them very much in getting friendly with the other; instead, it made them get even more nervous than they already were. Those simple fifteen seconds that took the lift to bring them up felt like hours to both of them. _Please, get us up now!_ Lilo pleaded. By Stitch's look, she could tell he was thinking the same.

Finally, the whir of the lift faded and the dome was left into view. Stitch was quite surprised with how little things had changed since he left. Even his cot was just the same he remembered leaving that morning four years ago.

"I wanted to keep everything the same as much as possible since that day." Lilo suddenly said, seeing how Stitch stared at everything.

"Why?" Stitch slowly asked. He walked up to his old cot and ran his hand on the soft blanket that covered it.

"I don't know. I just… wanted it to be so." Lilo replied quietly, knowing that she was saying a half of the truth. She had wanted to keep it so because that way she could still go back to the days Stitch had only been her friend and no more to her. It was something she would always do when she felt depressed and missed Stitch, but she wouldn't say it.

A lot of time had gone by; both Lilo and Stitch had grown older and made their lives apart from each other, and now it was like they were strangers. All they had were memories from the good times, when they had been younger and shared a beautiful friendship, but that was all: memories. It wasn't the real them that had grown older and more mature, and that was why they felt so odd right now. They could only have a memory of the other, but neither knew what had been of the other's life in those four years. They could have changed, and the other wouldn't know it. Maybe if Stitch had left Lilo in good terms, this re-encounter would have been a lot lighter and they would be hugging and talking nonstop like good old friends that haven't seen each other in a while. But the thing was that he hadn't left in good terms, and he hadn't left feeling the kind of love between friends for Lilo.

_Will it be ever like it used to be?_

_Can we still be friends?_

_How am I supposed to behave around him now?_

_What should I tell her? How am I even supposed to talk to her?_

_It's been so long since we last saw each other…_

"Um… so? Where could we put Aleia?" Stitch asked suddenly, wanting to break again the silence. He couldn't stand it. It was so awkward… so weird…

"Uh, well, I could give you my bed and then Aleia could have the cot for her." Lilo suggested.

"No. You don't have to give me your bed. I'm perfectly fine with sleeping on the floor."

"Stitch, you really look like you need some rest. You sleep in my bed tonight, and that's it." Lilo almost demanded. Stitch smiled to himself. Her willpower was still the same he remembered. Seeing that little smile in Stitch's face made Lilo smile a bit herself.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Then again silence. Lilo walked to her wardrobe and took out her pajama.

"I'm gonna change clothes. If you want another blanket or maybe a pillow, they're in the same place as always." She said before getting inside the little bathroom of the dome.

Stitch didn't remember having a bathroom in the dome, but he shrugged it off. He couldn't expect everything to be exactly the same. That thought made him shudder slightly. How much could Lilo have changed herself? Of course, now she looked different and he had a bit of trouble recognizing her voice, but what about her feelings and her way to see everything?

_I guess there are some things I'd rather knowing nothing about by know. _He thought and then headed for the wardrobe as well. It was true, the blankets and pillows were right in the same place they used to be in. He took out another couple pillows, but while he was pulling them out, he accidentally dropped some of Lilo's clothes. He bent down to pick them up and put them back onto their hook. He was almost done with one of Lilo's T-shirts when he noticed a little box under it. He put the shirt back onto its hook and then looked into the box, slightly curious.

There were various things inside it, but the first one that caught his attention was a photo of him and Lilo in her 12th birthday. They had been quite cozy on that day, now that he remembered. In this photo, he was shown holding Lilo by the waist as she held him by the neck, both facing the camera while smiling. He bent down and picked up the photo, but then he realized he'd picked up something else as well. Again curious, he gave a look at it.

A yellow piece of paper.

He unfolded it and started to read just a bit of it. He gasped when he recognized it. She _still_ had it? Now that was something! He kept reading, his eyes sucking in every word. He wanted to remember how exactly he had poured all of his thoughts and feelings for Lilo in that simple piece of paper.

_Lilo,_

_I'm sorry I didn't wait to say goodbye. You were still asleep when Angel and Bolivia came to tell me they had to leave now. Besides, I doubt you would want to see me after last night. You're right. This is my entire fault, but Lilo you don't know the reason why I had to stay close to Angel. Staying close to Angel, I still have control and the urges to do such things to her never come. With you, you'll never understand what's been happening to me. IF I even stand an inch near you, I just want to lock you in tight in my arms and never let you go. You won't believe this Lilo, but I've fallen in love with you…_

Some tears were already trailing down Stitch's cheek by the time he was finishing that paragraph. He hadn't relived that day so intensely since long ago…

There was a click at the door of the bathroom and he gasped.

Lilo had already her lavender nightgown on. She had already brushed her teeth and was now brushing her long, ebony hair. She walked out of the bathroom and put her clothes on a pile next to her bed. Her eyes fell upon Stitch, who was accommodating a pillow under Aleia's head. She watched as Stitch kissed her forehead and then walked up to Lilo's bed to finally get under the covers.

She simply walked over to the wardrobe and took out a sleeping bag she had kept in there. She extended it on the floor and then got into it, after putting a pillow to her head of course. Stitch looked at her this whole while. Several thoughts were revolting inside his head. Was it possible that Lilo still loved him the same way she did when he had left? And if not, then why did she keep that letter of his in which he was confessing that he loved her as well?

_There are some things I'd rather not know right now. _He reminded himself._ Just calm down Stitch. If you start torturing yourself with more problems than you already have, you might just blow up. Do it for Aleia, for her own good, if you don't care at all about yourself._

He sighed and then the lights turned off. Lilo mumbled a very weak goodnight and he responded with one of his own, but it didn't flow out naturally, as it used to. He put the pillow against his face in frustration. He was feeling nearly as lonely as he had felt back in the BRB, several years ago… or maybe even worse. That time he felt lonely because Lilo wasn't there with him, and this time he felt lonely again.

The funny thing was that this time, Lilo was here.

Stitch's eyes shot open all of sudden. His respiration was quick and his heart was drumming rapidly against his chest. His hands moved to his temples, and he felt some sweat forming there. He was scared. Of what? He didn't know. He couldn't even remember if he even dreamed something, but by the way he woke up, he must have had a dream… or better said, a nightmare.

That was a strange thing. He had barely slept like two hours and yet, he had time to have a nightmare, bad enough as to scare him. That made him remember about Aleia, last night at the ship. His head snapped to his side and he found her still sleeping on the cot. This time she seemed to be calm, unlike to last night. _I wonder when she's going to wake up. _He wondered as he jumped out of the bed. _I think I better ask Jumba._

He walked to the platform of the lift and then rode it down. The sound of some TV show (probably a cartoon) was filling the corridor. He could have some food as well, now that he thought about it. His stomach was growling like it was starving. Deciding to go get some breakfast first, he went into the kitchen to fix himself a bowl of cereal and maybe a mug of coffee.

Then he heard voices, besides of the ones from TV. At first, he heard a young male voice. He didn't pay much attention until he heard Lilo's voice as well. This made his ears perk a little. Then he saw the door of the living room slightly opened and Lilo standing there.

"…Look, I'm really, really sorry. All I did was freaking you out, and that's wrong in several ways."

"Calan, I already told you there's no problem with that. It just… happened, and that's it."

"No. I-I even thought whether I should do it or not. It wasn't okay."

_Just what the blitznac is going on? _Stitch thought. He didn't even realize that his feet had left the chair and had walked closer to the raven haired girl. He decided to crawl on the wall, since it was a lot harder for anyone to see him on a wall than standing right behind Lilo.

"Boy, will you just drop the subject? It's not like you tried to kill me!"

"I know. I know… it's just that I think I shouldn't have kissed you like that! You should have seen your own face after that!"

_WHAT?_

"G' morning, daddy."

_Thud!_

"Ow!" Stitch moaned in pain as he rubbed his buttocks. He had fallen from the ceiling onto the trashcan. A pineapple crown laid on his head and a banana peel was sitting on his right shoulder, while some flour dust and egg shells covered his nose and most of his face. A very bad stench was starting to emanate from him. Aleia stood right in front of him, a mix of amusement and disgust was on her eyes.

By this time Lilo had already left the door to see what was going on and was there just in time to see Stitch getting out of the trashcan.

"Morning, mister Big Nose." She said somewhat annoyed, though just stifling back a laugh. She couldn't help it: Stitch looked real funny. She went to the door again. "Sorry Calan, gotta do something right now. Talk to you later." She said and then closed the door.

"Ow, man! This sucks." Stitch mumbled to himself as he looked all over his own body. The two girls giggled a bit and then Lilo spoke up.

"Looks like you're gonna need a bath, eh Stitch?" She said with a smirk on her face. She got a groan from the blue experiment. "C'mon! Go take a bath or I'll give you a shower with the hose."

Stitch didn't think twice about it. He immediately headed for the bathroom and locked it up. Soon, Lilo heard the sound of water filling the tube and she smiled to herself. "I'm so glad that still works."

Then she noticed the little alien girl beside her. She bent down to look at her in the eyes and offered her a hand. "Look there, you're awake now Aleia! Hi, I'm Lilo."

"Awake? For how long was I sleeping?" Aleia asked startled, then she remembered the last thing the teen had said. "And… you're Lilo? Lilo Pelekai?"

Lilo gave her a nod. "Yeah, that's me."

The pup stared at her in shock. "I… can't… believe it. My dad's talked to me about you before!" She blurted before she even knew it. Lilo seemed quite nervous by this.

"Oh, r-really? What did he tell you?" She asked, her cheeks starting to turn a very dim crimson. Aleia thought it better if she didn't say the part in which her dad told her about him being in love with Lilo.

"Oh, well… he didn't tell me that much." She said casually. "He just said that you are his best friend since a long time ago and he showed me a few photos of you." That made her go back a few steps and take a full look at the teen. "And you sure have changed since those photos were taken! Though he didn't tell me why you two stopped talking to each other for so long." She said, this time carefully. She had wanted to see the way Lilo would react.

"Uhh, well, it's… complicated." Lilo avoided the subject immediately. She didn't want to talk about it. Not now… she wasn't ready.

"Lilo?"

"What is it, Aleia?"

"Where are my mom and my brother?"

That made Lilo flinch. So the girl didn't know about it yet? She opened her mouth, but then she closed it immediately. Maybe it would be better if Stitch had the say on it. He was the appropriate person to talk about it with Aleia, not her.

"I… I think you should talk about it with your dad after he's done." Lilo said slowly, rather sadly. Trying to get into a lighter mood, she turned to Aleia again. "Well, want some waffles or hotcakes for breakfast? I'd bet you're starving."

Aleia's eyes lit up immediately, and then Lilo heard her stomach growl. She gave a lighthearted smile. "I'll take that as a yes."

Aleia smiled back at the human and then sat down at the table. Lilo took out of the fridge some hotcakes and waffles that had been there since last morning. She heated them up in the microwave and while she waited, she sat down in front of Aleia.

"So… how old are you, Aleia?" She asked, trying to make up some conversation.

"Uh, well… I'm eight in experiment years. Or at least that's what my dad says." She replied with uncertainty. "I don't quite remember how he explained it to me. It's weird… and it gets my head to hurt."

"Oh…"

"Yeah… my bro is eight too, but everybody says he looks a lot older. I'd bet that's 'cause he's way bigger than I am. My owner, Bolivia, says that he's probably gonna look a lot like Dad when he is older, but actually, he's a lot more like Mom… he's pretty much of a softie, which my mom sometimes is. Just keep clean your room and don't gulp down your breakfast with the cereal bowl included, and everything will be fine."

Lilo sighed sadly. She was realizing that this little girl did not only ignore that her brother and mother were already gone, but she was pretty close to them as well. _How will she take the news…?_ She wondered worried.

"Lilo?" Aleia interrupted her thoughts softly. "I… I just want to know if everything's fine. I have the feeling…" She trailed off.

"What is it?" Lilo asked cautiously.

"Well… I have the feeling that something's changed. Something big."

The microwave beeped once, letting Lilo know that the food in it was ready. She stood up and went to get it. After a couple of minutes, a pile of hotcakes was sitting in front of Aleia, along with a milkshake that took Lilo just a minute to prepare.

Aleia stood up from her chair and started exploring the room, and when she didn't find what she was looking for, she moved to the living room.

"Need something, Aleia?" Lilo asked.

"Well… Kenny's going to miss breakfast if he's not here right now. And if he's not here for breakfast then mom's going to get angry at him."

The door of the bathroom opened and then Stitch came out. His fur was still moist because of the water, but at least he was clean now. He was doing his best to get his fur dry, but he wasn't having a lot of success. Then he found Aleia in front of him.

"Hey hon." He greeted again. "You already had breakfast?"

"Nope. I'm looking for Kenny. You know how angry mom gets when he isn't in time to have breakfast."

This made Stitch's heart hurt. He had to tell her…

"Uh, Aleia, leave it there. Let's go have breakfast in the kitchen. I need to… talk to you about something." He said as he pushed his daughter gently into the kitchen. Unnoticed tears had started to form in his black ebony eyes, but he wiped them off before anyone would notice.

* * *

**Uhh, well... I kinda felt this was a pretty long chapter and not one of my best (probably because there wasn't a lot of action like in other chapters and stories of mine), but I also felt like this chapter was necessary so the coming chapters made more sense at the moment you read them. Bleh...**

**Oh well, this is probably the last chapter I'm updating to this story while I'm still 14. Why? Next Thursday I'm turning 15 :D**

**WOOT! I'm so excited! xD LOL, I don't know why it's such a big deal when you turn 15 (at least here in Mexico it is). People make big parties and they inundate the recently-15-year-old girl with presents (yes, that's another thing I don't quite get. It's only for girls :S), and I can't wait for it, LOL. Well, I'll try to update the next chapter of "If I never met you" before Thursday. Consider this chapter and that soon-to-come chapter my presents for you xD**


	4. Unbearable truth

Okay, next chapter for this story! Kinda short, but I hope you'll like it anyway XD

**GodOfStorms: **Nope, deep inside, Lilo hasn't changed, but she is still hurting... so you might have already guessed how's it going to be when Stitch and Lilo confront each other ;P And yeah, Calan is NOT going to be nice...

And thanks a lot for the nice review! And the 9.5/10! XD

**Stitchfan 82: **Thanks a lot! :)

**VoxAdam: **Once more, thanks a lot for your well-thought review, which pointed out several important aspects of the story. In this chapter, I tried to get some of Nani's POV about Stitch's departure (something that you were curious to know). Humm, lemme see...

Ah, yes. That's going to be the problem with Calan. Once he discovers that something is starting to re-appear between the two friends, he's not gonna be nice anymore... though I'm not sure yet if I should do him all "lusty", as you put it. I'd like him to be "evil" in a different way, you know XD The bad guys that are usually the best ones are the ones that act according to their heads and not their feelings at all (yes, their misguided feelings influence a lot, but we should find a way to equilibrate both, right?)

Oh, and about your P.D., it'll be answered in the next chapter : )

**123quaz:** Once more, thanks for the nice review :) Yeah, I'm taking my time to make Lilo and Stitch fall for each other again, but right now, they've got other things to deal with. Fortunately, they'll have little Aleia to help them out XD I'm happy to know that I did a good job creating her ^^

And I can see that many people (you included) have already smelt problems coming soon because of Calan. Wow, is he that predictable, really? XD But sadly, there are too many boys like him, who pretend being what they're not and deep inside are jerks, trying to get their way. Thanks a lot once more (and for your final advise too) ^^

* * *

**If They Come Back To You**

_Chapter 4__  
Unbearable truth_

"Lilo, what's he doing in here?"

The teenager rubbed her now sweaty forehead softly. Stitch had gone up the dome to talk to Aleia, and right before they went up into the dome Nani had gone out of her room and saw him. Now Lilo was trying to find the correct words to explain Stitch's arriving to her older sister, who wasn't very happy with Stitch after he left her little sister in such a state.

"It was the hurricane. He was living in Honolulu with Bolivia and her mom, and they, well… it seems that nobody except for him and Aleia survived the storm."

"Oh, so now that he needs help he remembers he has a friend here in Kauai. That's so sweet from him." Nani replied sarcastically. Lilo frowned.

"Hey, I know better than you how much it hurt when he left with Angel. Don't make things worse for me. Just try to forgive him like I'm trying to."

"After all the pain he caused you? Lilo, I don't think it's the best of the ideas to have him here after that. He didn't even try to contact you while he was living back there in Honolulu! Do you call that being a friend?"

"For God's sake, Nani, stop it! No, maybe it wasn't right for him to stop contacting us, but we cannot throw him out! He needs us, and he's part of his family!"

"Lilo, you lolo! He left to form a new family of his own. He renounced to this family the moment he stepped out of this house, and now you're just letting him in again!"

"But he needs us!" Tears had started to leak out of Lilo's eyes. She didn't like to be reminded of those things that had hurt her so much, and the way Nani was saying them was just too hard for her to bear. She turned around to hide her tears, but Nani walked up to her, this time speaking softly.

"Lilo…"

"He's always been my best friend… ever since we were kids… I cannot leave him alone now."

"I know, Lilo. I know. I'm not asking you to throw him out; it's just that I don't want you to get hurt again because of him."

Lilo turned to the young woman and then held onto her, hiding her face on her sister's shoulder. Nani felt the skin of her shoulder getting moist. Gently, she held Lilo to herself and started running her fingers through her long, silky black hair.

"I fear the Stitch you used to know died when he met Angel, Lilo… and I don't want you to cry again for him like you did for these last years."

"I won't. I- I'm… I'm not opening up my heart to him again. He's just going to stay here until he finds a new home for him and his daughter, but by now, he's staying here."

"Good, if that's what you want…"

Pulling Lilo away from her, Nani smiled, catching with her thumb a tear that was rolling down her sister's cheek. Lilo gave back a weak smile.

"Now help me get David's breakfast ready, please."

However, before Lilo could follow her sister to the kitchen, they heard the whir of the lift. All Lilo could see was a blue blur dashing to the living room and going out by the doggy door, but she couldn't tell if it was Stitch or Aleia. A few seconds later, Stitch was downstairs as well. He looked worried and even scared. Lilo turned and then saw him.

"Stitch?"

"Aleia…"

Catching up with Stitch's preoccupation, Lilo walked up to him. "How did she take it?"

"She ran away as soon as I told her."

"What is this commotion I am hearing?" A thick Russian accent drifted in the room. The girl and the experiment turned to see Jumba going out of his room, rubbing away the sleep from his eyes.

"It's Aleia, Jumba. Stitch already told her what happened to her mom and brother and she didn't take it too well." Lilo started to explain.

"She ran out of the house." Stitch added with anguish. Jumba looked sorrowful for a moment, and then spoke to them with a slow voice.

"Let the Little Pup be. She is wishing to be alone until watery eyes are completely dry and until her mind is clearer."

"But I've got to be with her!" Stitch protested, but Jumba silenced him.

"No, 626. The loss that your little one is suffering is greater than anything that she has gone through, and right now it's being completely normal for her to try run away from fatherly figure and Ohana for a while until she is feeling better."

"Jumba's right, Stitch." Lilo bent down to Stitch's level, forgetting of what she had just talked about with Nani. "If she's not back for lunch, then we're going out to look for her. Okay?"

Stitch only nodded, ears laying flat against his head and shoulders. Lilo pushed him gently towards the kitchen, where everybody sat down to wait for their breakfasts. Even Nani, who had felt her heart hard towards Stitch, seemed to be touched by the scene she had just seen.

Soon, Pleakley and David joined them, learning out what had just happened and promising that they would help look for Aleia if she was not back home soon. The atmosphere at the table was pretty gloomy, and everybody ate silently. Not even Pleakley quarreled with Jumba over him using too much maple syrup for his hot cakes.

Stitch was quickly done with his breakfast, and then he went out. Lilo noticed this, and thinking that he was going to start looking for Aleia, gulped down all of her breakfast as fast as she could and went after him. Nani could only sigh and shake her head at the sight of this, not knowing if her sister was going to fulfill her promise at all.

"Stitch! Wait!"

Stitch had to stop when he heard Lilo's voice calling out for him. He turned around and saw the girl running to him, trying to catch up. He waited until she was next to him, when he started walking again. Lilo walked at his same rate.

"Where are you going? I thought Jumba told us not to look for Aleia right now!"

"That's not what I'm doing."

Soon, Lilo could see where Stitch had leaded them to. The old hammock was right in front of them, only a few steps away. Surprised and confused, Lilo looked at him.

"I had missed this place. I liked coming here whenever I needed to think over something or when I felt sad." Stitch explained, climbing up the stairs and then the hammock.

"Oh. Well, then, uh… I guess I'm just going back home." Lilo replied, starting to make her way back home, However, she hadn't even given two steps when she heard Stitch's voice.

"Lilo…"

She turned to him, but he did not face her when he spoke to her again.

"I wouldn't mind if you stay here too…"

Taking that as a request, Lilo walked up the stairs and sat down on the hammock, trying to avoid looking at Stitch. Both kept silent for a few minutes, looking at the sea in front of them, as deep as the sky, feeling the breeze caressing their faces. Not containing herself anymore, Lilo spoke up.

"Why didn't you try to contact me after you left? At least one letter would have been welcome."

Stitch flinched after hearing this, but he didn't detach his eyes from the horizon.

"I couldn't. I already had a family to take care of."

"And how much time would it have taken to write one simple note saying "I'm okay", huh? You cannot tell me that you were busy ALL the time. And it wasn't like Angel was gonna die if you left her alone for only a second."

"True."

"So?"

Stitch turned his back at her. "I don't feel like talking about that right now."

"But I do." Lilo replied, sounding too rude even for her liking. She could see Stitch shaking his head, his ears swinging softly as he did.

"If I told you, you'd just bash me. Besides, you wouldn't believe me."

"And how do you know that if you haven't even told me?"

"I just know."

"How?"

"Because I know you!" Stitch replied, all too rudely as well. Lilo was slightly taken aback by his hoarse reply, but she didn't let herself get fazed.

"Well, if you did really know me, then you should have known how hurt I'd get if you didn't just show any interest in sending news of you to me! Do you have the slightest idea of how much I suffered just because I didn't even know how you were?"

"And do you think you were the only one to get hurt after I left?" Stitch barked at the girl. Realizing that he was starting to go too far, he went silent once more. However, Lilo just went on.

"Oh, really? So tell me, how much it hurt you to leave your best friend-?"

"A lot!" Stitch couldn't just stay silent, no matter how hard he tried. Angrily, he turned his back to Lilo again. She tossed her arms in the air.

"Oh great. If you didn't want to talk, then why did you ask me to stay here with you?"

"I didn't. I just said that I wouldn't mind if you stayed here too!"

"So that isn't asking for someone to stay here? Then what it's called?"

"Okay, I did! I did because I'm an idiot!" Stitch finally blew up, hopping off the hammock and going back home. "I just wanted to feel that I still had my best friend here beside me!"

"Well, guess what? Your best friend isn't here anymore. You killed her!"

Stitch stopped for a moment. "She wouldn't be the first one I killed. And Angel DID die just because I left her alone for a simple, darn second." He mumbled under his breath, just loud enough for Lilo to hear before starting to walk again. "I'm just leaving!"

"Yes, that's the best you could do!" Lilo yelled. "I don't care! Anyway, that's all you know how to do when things don't go your way, right? Then go away! It'll be fine for me!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Lilo hopped off the hammock as well, but went the opposite direction than Stitch did. The hammock stayed alone once more, swinging softly as the breeze moved it, as if nobody had just been on it.

Stitch didn't go home as he said he'd do. He thought it better to go into the forest and just stay there for a while, lost so nobody would find him, another of his tricks of when he was younger and didn't want anybody to find him. He dropped heavily beside a tree and supported his back on it, closing his eyes and wishing he could close his ears as well. He fell asleep shortly after.

Lilo went to the beach instead. Unlike Stitch, she always felt that the water helped her to calm down when she felt angry or upset. And right now, even though she didn't have her swimsuit with her (or ON her), she went into the water, all dressed up. She didn't care about the weird glances she received or the laughs that were directed towards her. Maybe she could go see Pudge, now that she was in the water.

After a while, Lilo went out and sat down on the golden sand. She watched as the clouds went by and the tourists go by in their ridiculously short swimsuits, just playing around or just resting on the sand. She laid down, just wanting to get some rest, but she fell asleep too after a while.

None told Lilo or Stitch to wake up. None reminded them that if Aleia wasn't back for lunch then they'd have to go look for her. The sun slowly started to go down, and right before the first stars appeared, the girl in the beach woke up. Some kid had hit her with a volleyball ball, and now that she saw the sun starting to hide behind the sea did she realize that she had to be looking for Aleia. Standing up in a single jump, she ran back home.

Just when the Pelekai house was left into view, she saw someone else running up the stairs. Someone short… and furry.

"_Gosh, not right now…" _She thought, recognizing Stitch. She was pretty mad at him still, but right now it wasn't time for stupid quarrels. She had to know first if the pup had come home.

"Nani!" She called as soon as she was in. However, it wasn't Nani's voice that replied.

"Aleia's not home yet!" Stitch yelled from the lift. Lilo's reluctant expression turned into a worried one.

"And where could she be?"

"I don't know. I have to go look for her."

"I'm going with you."

Stitch turned to look at Lilo with a surprised face.

"Don't give me that look. I'm going with you and that's it. A promise is a promise, and I promised you that I'd help you get Aleia back. Maybe the others are already looking for her."

"Yeah…" Stitch bit his bottom lip. Lilo only put on a jacket and then went out, Stitch beside her. While they were going down the stairs, he heard Lilo sigh.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I…"She trailed off. Stitch sighed as well.

"I'm sorry too."

They didn't exchange any other word, except for "Have you looked in there yet?" "I haven't found anything" and an occasional "Do you see something?", but out of that, nothing. However, they felt tranquil with each other now.

The sky was getting darker as time went by, and they couldn't find anything. They had been following Aleia's scent (thanks to Stitch's nose), but it never brought them to her. After a couple of hours, they decided to go back home, thinking that maybe the others had already found Aleia and were waiting for them.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. It was true that the others were already home, but they hadn't found her. Jumba had tried to get Finder to help them, but he was already busy doing works to look for people that had got lost during the hurricane, and he barely had any rest. All the useful experiments were already helping as well in other tasks, so they couldn't really get anybody to help them.

"Let's think. If we were Aleia, where would we have gone to?" David asked.

"David, there are just too many places she could have gone to! She could even have got lost and then that wouldn't be too helpful-"

"I think I know where she might have gone to…" Lilo interrupted Nani. Everybody looked at her. "But I'm not sure… Nani, remember the first place I went to after I knew that Mom and Dad had died?"

"You went to look for them in the place where the accident had happened. But why does this-? Oh…" Nani understood quickly. "But you don't think she could have possibly gone to-?"

"Maybe she did…"

"The accident place?" Stitch thought aloud to himself. "But then that'd mean she went-?"

"Back to Honolulu." Lilo ended the sentence for Stitch.

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**Please, R&R!**


	5. Two homes

Phew! Long time since I last updated, right? Well, as I promised, here's chapter five to this story. Thank God for Spring Break, because these last days I've been having some great ideas for the stories I'm currently writing and for the next ones, but unfortunately, two weeks of vacation weren't enough to update more than just two times :( Now on with the replies!

**Kitten630: **Welcome to Liloexp626's stories! I'm happy to know I just got one more reader, which makes me feel quite flattered :)

Now, I'll understand if you believed that I had totally forgotten of this story. Those that already know me and my rate to update already know its pretty normal for me to delay weeks, sometimes even months to update one single, eight-page-long-in-Word chapter. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten of this story; I've got great ideas for it, and stopping it out of the blue isn't in my plans. However, I still have school, homework to do and a lot of other stuff that come first than the computer, and therefore, before my stories and Internet. I'll always write a chapter in a lapse of one or two days, but that's only when I get enough time to give to the computer (which doesn't happen very often, unfortunately). Well, to make it shorter: I know (too) how it feels to read a story I like and have to wait for a long time for the author to update (if the story is still in progress). I understand it might be a little exasperating having to wait for months and/or weeks for me to update some story, especially if you already grew to like/love it, but believe me: high school isn't really something that leaves you so much spare time anymore. Please understand this and that I have to be responsible of several things that come first and try searching for some other stories that you might be interested in. That might entertain you for a while until I can update, okay?

Thanks for the nice review and welcome to my stories! Glad you're liking them so far!

**VoxAdam: **As always, it's always a pleasure to read your reviews. Oops, yeah, the story is advancing at its own pace (maybe a bit too slow, but I still feel comfortable about it), just like "If I Never Met You". You know, it doesn't really feel that strange to write at the same time to different-angled stories. It gives me more variety to work with, which helps me not to get bored.

Oh yeah, that's one of the things I like most about fanfiction. I can read what everyone thinks about the story and find something to think about, even though sometimes the reviews aren't really constructive. I like to see what people thinks would happen next, so I can reinforce the story and make it more credible. Yep, definitely, that's something good about in-progress stories (although I wish I could update more often *sigh*)

Hmm, well, since I don't have much time left to be on the computer, I'll just reply to the most important points you made in your review. Like Angel and Stitch's relationship, for example... I know by experience how it feels like to have parents that are emotionally distanced, and even though Aleia hasn't showed yet that it affected her someway, she will do it, sooner or later in the story. It's not like such "relationship" could last that long, and I think that, in fact, if it hadn't been for the hurricane, Stitch and Angel would have ended up in a worse way.

Well, about Lilo/Stitch, some of your points are already being answered in this chapter, so I'll just let you read and take out your conclusions (my gosh, I love doing that :D ), and as for the other points, they will be answered in the next chapters as well. I just ask for patience, as I already did with Kitten630, okay?

Oh, and about that letter in "When You Love Someone", I think Stitch kept saying he and Lilo could never be together because actually, he was trying to deny (somewhat) his strongest feelings for the girl so it wouldn't hurt him that much when the moment to leave came. However, that denying just made it worse, as it could be seen on the first chapters of this story. Maybe it was just my interpretation for that letter in MisGelRcy's story, but at least to me, it could make sense.

Thanks for such a nice, rich review! I always appreciate reding what you write for my stories! ^^

P.D. I'm not thinking about turning Lilo into an experiment as a main point in the story... not even as a secondary point, LOL. I actually Like Lilo and Stitch just the way they are, because I've always known them the way they've always been. Changing them wouldn't be a bad idea, but some part of me still likes them like a human/experiment couple. Some people think it's sick, but I don't really care as long as they don't try to flame my work. I guess I have some kind of liking to "forbidden" love xD Well, actually, only inter-species couplings ;P

**spritex620: **Thanks! Glad you liked the last chapter and here you go! ^^

**stitch8000:** Mahalo plenty ^^

Ugh, I guess I won't be able to read the reviews this chapter receives until Sunday or so. I'm leaving for the beach tomorrow xD However, I hope that won't stop you all from reviewing, LOL. Enjoy!

* * *

**If They Come Back To You**

_Chapter 5__  
Two homes_

The night sky looked extremely beautiful. At least Aleia thought so. It was the first time in weeks she could see a clean sky, with brilliant, twinkling stars on the black velvet and a beautiful silver moon, resembling to a little pearl. She let out a sad sigh as little tears, brilliant as the stars she was admiring, rolled down her cheeks to land on her arms and legs.

"_I wonder if Mom and Kenny already have a star up there."_ She wondered, wiping out one single tear that had just gone out of her eye. _"I hope so. That way I could still look at them somehow and maybe talk to them."_

She lowered her eyes for a few moments to look at her surroundings. Several men were lifting heavy boxes that were meant to go to refuges and people who had lost their houses. A few ships were starting to wander on the dark mass that she knew was the sea, bringing food and medicine for the people of other islands. One of those huge, spectral ships had brought them to Kauai last night, and now her to this place.

She only had to choose a good place to hide and then just wait until the ship stopped on a safe place. She finally could get out right when the sun was setting behind the sea, which allowed her to have a good view of the island, even though she didn't like what she saw. Everything looked horribly different to what she remembered calling Honolulu: several houses had collapsed, and the ones that had miraculously remained up had no more color on them; it was like the storm took everything away, even the color. No wonder why she thought the sky looked exceptionally beautiful this day: it was the only thing with color she could see in that usually colorful island, now gray with some lingering clouds and the atmosphere coming from affected people.

She had to immediately lift her eyes once more. She couldn't stand seeing people she used to know, if only by looks, looking so miserable. She couldn't stand seeing places where she used to play everyday now torn into pieces, turned into bits of nothingness. She couldn't stand seeing the now empty places, where palm trees used to sway softly their leaves while she rested under them with her family. And over all, she couldn't stand looking into the eyes of the people, which mirrored her own eyes. They had lost dear things and loved ones too, and now their eyes and faces only held sadness and anguish, some of them even lacking completely of hope. She didn't want to think she looked the same way they did, because everytime their eyes met, it always would make a cold shiver run down her spine. Besides, she was starting to regret leaving Kauai. She missed her dad and she wasn't really sure of how to get back there.

She did the only logical thing she could do. Standing up slowly, she left the beach and the wet, muddy sand behind. Even though she didn't really like what she was seeing so far, she felt she couldn't stop staring. It was like something she needed to do, to remember everything perfectly, or maybe it was some kind of enchantment, because she never could just look away. She walked through known streets, streets that usually she was never allowed to walk through unless her mom or her dad held firmly her hand. However, now she had to walk through them alone, with no protective hand around hers. It scared her as well, because they weren't the same streets anymore. Everything looked too different to what she remembered. She felt completely lost, even though it was a place she used to know.

Another strange scene welcomed her eyes: several people, most of them young looking ones, were breaking the glasses of some stores and going into them to come out after a few seconds with some valuable things, or at least valuable enough. She couldn't help letting out a snarl at them, loud enough for her to hear. She knew almost every person in her neighborhood and its surroundings, so she immediately knew they weren't the owners of the stores. It made her angry: her parents had always taught her and her brother to do the right things, and she hated seeing people like these doing bad things, taking advantage of the situation.

She moved closer to the little group of hooligans, forgetting of her age and size, and snarled. One of them stopped on his tracks to look at her. He smiled, amused.

"Hey Joe! Look at this! I think it's a koala." He called one of his mates. The other man, who seemed to be the leader, looked at Aleia for a few seconds and then back to his companion.

"Leave the games for later, Mike. Hurry up; we never know when the cops are near." He called with his hoarse voice, speaking with a thick Hawaiian accent.

"Aww, come on! It'll be for just a sec. It looks kind of cute, y'know… what if we keep it?" Mike asked with his childish voice, putting down a TV he had been holding to his chest to pat Aleia on the head. Either he was too stupid or he hadn't noticed when she snarled at them, because now he tried to pat her as anyone who pats a friendly puppy.

Aleia didn't doubt for a moment: she closed her jaws onto the man's hand, causing a severe pain to shoot through his fingers and arm.

"OW!" He cried out a curse, detaching his hand quickly from Aleia's sharp teeth, which let go as soon as she tasted a bitter flavor. His hand had only a thin, little stream of blood rolling to his fingers. "Damn dog, now you'll see…"

He was too fast for Aleia, who fled a few steps away after the man kicked at her side. He walked over to her once more, but this time she was alert and dodged his foot. She wasn't coward: she wouldn't run away unless she needed so, and she would have gladly returned the man's kick if it wasn't for a siren that was heard near there.

Another two men and a girl returned quickly as if on cue, bringing their worthy prizes and putting them into the car as fast as they could. In almost no time, they all were in the car and driving off the street at an incredible speed. Mike had put a piece of fabric to his hurt hand, and then showed it to his companions.

"Do you think it'll get infected?"

Everybody rolled their eyes.

Aleia kept walking, rubbing her side. She wasn't used to such aggressions, even though she and her brother would play rough sometimes, but the pain wasn't that strong, so she forgot of it after a while.

She passed by a street that went another way. Several men and women were there, and some trucks with food took that street. That street leaded to Bolivia's school, which now was probably used as a refuge, but she didn't want to go there. She left behind the rowdiness of the street and kept walking with quick steps.

It wasn't long before she got to a very well known suburb, which used to have beautiful palm trees and ornamental ferns on every street.

One, two, three… she wondered if she hadn't mistaken the street. That hideous, miserable heap of soaked sticks and fallen beams couldn't be the house where she had grown up and where her loving family used to live at. It just didn't make sense, it wasn't possible…

She turned around and counted again the streets. One, two, three… there was no way she could be mistaking her house. Hers was on the fourth street, right in front of that swinging tire she liked so much, hanging from a leafy, strong tree that looked pretty much the same than it did when she lived in her house. When she lived… here.

She had never seen a tree which even resembled to this one near her neighborhood. This couldn't just look similar, it must be…

Her eyes filled with tears again, and this time she couldn't keep them back at all. _"No, this is not my house! I must listen to mom when she says that I shouldn't drink too much coke before going to bed… yeah, that's it. I drank too much coke last night and now I'm having a nightmare, just like she said I'd do…"_

However, she still knew that it wasn't just a bad dream. It hit her childish mind like a ton of bricks.

She rushed into the house, trying to look for something that wouldn't look wrecked or broken, but there was nothing complete inside the house. When she went in by the doggie door in the kitchen, every plate was lying on the floor, broken into thousands of pieces, just like the glasses and other dishes she had always been told to be careful of. Her room didn't exist anymore. It had come down with the rest of the superior floor.

She found puddles everywhere; little drops of water fell from the ceiling and walls, resembling to the tears she was crying. But there was one especial thing she was looking for…

While Aleia was looking for her deceased family, a noodle-shaped alien and a pregnant woman in Kauai waited eagerly for the members of their family that had gone out to look for a missing kid.

Nani sighed heavily and then sat down carefully on her favorite couch, while Pleakley fidgeted nervously with his skinny fingers.

"How's everything so far?" Nani asked worried. Pleakley looked at her.

"Well, Jumba says they're still overseas, but not for long." He replied, putting his communicator on the little table in front of him right before sitting down as well.

"God, I hope they'll find that kiddo…" Nani added, feeling somewhat awkward. "I had never seen Stitch so worried. It's still kind of… weird. Seeing him scared and sad at that point… I'm not used to it."

"Yeah…"

Neither of them spoke any other word. Pleakley stood up and claimed he'd look for an interesting recipe to prepare, now that there was no TV to watch. Nani rolled her eyes and went her own way to look for an interesting book or magazine to read, without getting too far from the communicator, in case they called…

A hundred miles from there in open sea, four persons traveled in something that any person would have mistaken by a quite peculiar boat. A four-eyed, massive alien was behind the controls, and a black haired surfer man sat by his side. On the back seats rested a blue, fluffy experiment and a tan, raven haired girl.

David was taking care of the communicator, just in case Pleakley or Nani called to tell them that Aleia was back at home. Jumba's eyes were fixed sternly on the horizon, and so Lilo's and Stitch's eyes. There was no other sound more than the water or the wind passing them by, but none made any effort to break the prevailing silence.

Just to have something to get distracted with, Stitch let his hand touch the warm waters of the dark sea. He usually hated water, but right now, it kind of calmed him down and helped him to think more clearly. Jumba had already told him he should calm down or then he'd have an attack; of course, he was only bluffing a little, but Stitch did really need to calm down. It wasn't like Aleia would get lost forever, right? Besides, he had to think some things over more clearly…

He would peer at Lilo from time to time, but she never seemed to notice. He just looked at her for a few seconds. Of course, he said he'd always love her, but right now he was just unsure. Having only one kid still would take him time and a lot of patience.

Besides, he didn't want to get too many hopes around her. He knew he had hurt Lilo, and he firmly thought she had the right to hate him if she wanted to. He was thankful she didn't, though. However, he had noticed that she was somewhat colder towards him too. It was so… weird. It felt wrong. What had happened to all those years they've spent together?

"_And the worst of all is that this was my whole fault…"_

It didn't occur to him that Lilo still felt awkward around him, and that was why she couldn't behave more friendly with him. He was just too submerged in his own thoughts to even notice.

"Prepare to arrive to island. We'll be there in about ten minutes." Jumba announced, breaking the silence with his thick Russian accent.

It was barely visible, but right ahead of them, a dark mass could be seen, being illuminated by the moonlight as the sparkling waves crashed against the edge.

Lilo turned to Stitch. The look she gave him was one of the rare warm looks she gave him ever since he had returned to Kauai.

"Don't worry, Stitch. We'll find Aleia in no time at all."

He only nodded, hoping that the warm look on her eyes wouldn't be just pity.

Soon, the vehicle was already resting among the big ferns and vegetation of the beach, and Stitch led the other three persons to the place he had tried to call his home for four long years. The environment had the same effects on him than it had on Aleia; it made him feel even bluer than he already did.

Lilo noticed the change of mood in Stitch and walked closer to him timidly. She patted his shoulder in a comforting manner, though hesitantly. Stitch looked at her and smiled, patting as well the hand that had just comforted him. Words weren't necessary at that moment to let Stitch know that Lilo still cared for him, which made him feel a bit better.

They followed Aleia's scent for a few minutes, thanks to Stitch's nose, which made sure that she had been here a short while ago. Finally, they reached the suburb where Stitch and his old family used to live at. Once more, the streets were counted. One, two, three… and then he gasped.

The sight of how the sticks and pieces of the roof and walls now lay on the ground, scattered all over the place, made a horrible feeling of dread go through his veins. Everybody gasped when they understood as well, but none could move for the first two seconds. The whole house had come crashing down.

"ALEIA!" Stitch cried out in pure terror, fearing the worst. Oh, how he loathed himself at that moment. He should have never told Aleia that he had buried his mother and brother in Honolulu; maybe if he had told her that they had got lost, she would have never tried to get back to this place. It didn't matter, though; he needed to see if she was inside the house.

He didn't hesitate for a moment. Actually, if it hadn't been for the arms that held him back, he would have dashed into the ruins of that spooky house, where Aleia's scent lingered.

"Let me go! I have to take her OUT!" Stitch shouted to the owner of the arms. However, Lilo wouldn't let go.

"No Stitch, don't! If Aleia is alright and you come in all of sudden, you could cause the house to fall down even more and get her hurt!"

"Lilo's right, Stitch! We must be careful!" David agreed, helping Lilo to hold Stitch back by placing himself in front of the short alien.

"I am to be agreeing with Surfer Boy and Little Girl. No sudden enters to the building, 626! It might collapse and if your Little Pup is in there, the consequences could be fatal."

At this remark, Stitch had to force himself to calm down. He had already lost his new owners, Angel and Kenny. He didn't want to lose his little girl as well. However, his insides were still aching with anguish.

"But… Jumba! What if she's hurt! What if… what if she…!" His eyes started to water up, and then his voice cracked, voicing up his worst thoughts. "I don't want to lose her too. It would be…"

"It's alright. We'll find a way to take her out; just be patient. Please…" Lilo murmured, slowly letting go of him. A part of him missed immediately her touch and didn't want her to let go, though, which made him wonder if his feelings for her were reappearing or if it was just the need of a friend comforting him.

"Besides, how do you know she went into the house? Maybe she's somewhere outside." David tried to comfort Stitch as well.

"I smell her! Her scent is IN the house!" Stitch cried out, starting to agitate again. Lilo and David tried to calm him down once more, none of them noticing that someone of their little group wasn't there.

Nobody had noticed that Jumba was gone until he called all of them. David and Lilo went immediately towards the huge tree in front of the house, where Jumba was standing. Stitch couldn't move at all; all he could do was look at the fallen house and make up plans in his head to get his daughter out.

"Stitch, Aleia is here!" Lilo's shout finally made him turn around. There was a little, furry blue bundle in Jumba's bulky arms. Stitch felt the beat of his heart calming down, bringing a hand to his chest in a relief manner. He ran to the place where the group stood and took his little girl from Jumba's arms. Aleia was barely starting to wake up.

"Daddy, you came here…" She murmured groggily, smiling to him. Stitch had already a thousand of things he had to say to her, but seeing her smile stopped him for a moment. He brought her to his chest, smiling as he held the little warm body of his daughter.

"Don't do that EVER again. You had me so scared…" He simply said, thanking silently for having found his daughter safe and sound. Aleia hugged him back.

"I'm… I'm sorry. It's just that I had to see mom and Kenny to say goodbye…" She detached from her dad's body to wipe a little tear from her eye. Stitch looked behind Aleia and the group, where two lumps of soil rested on the ground, one bigger and larger than the other one beside it. He understood.

"Come on, let's go back home…" He murmured, lifting his little girl in his arms once more. Of course, this time Aleia knew he wasn't referring to the broken building that rested in front of them, but to that little, though beautiful island called Kauai.

None of the others dared to say anything, fearing they'd break the father-daughter moment. They just kept walking silently, listening as Aleia related what had happened when she had first arrived. Stitch clenched his fists at the part where the thief had kicked her, and even though he scolded her for being so imprudent, he felt proud of his little daughter and told her so. Then she came to the part where she had come into the house.

She had finally found what she had been looking for: a photograph where all the members of her Ohana of Honolulu appeared. She contemplated on staying for a while inside the house to look for more things she would like to take out, but she decided to get out of there. However, she still wanted to find two old makeshift dolls of hers and her brother's that she and Kenny had made themselves a few years ago with the help of their mother. She delayed quite a bit, but she finally could find them. That would explain the old, wet dolls she was carrying on her arms like babies.

She had gone out as quickly as the fallen pieces of the house would allow her after this. She had just remembered that Stitch had said he had buried Angel and Kenny beside that tree she liked so much, to avoid curious people from trying to investigate what kind of creatures they were, and she felt the sudden need to go out and be there.

Maybe it was coincidence, or someone was watching over her, because if she had stayed more time into the house, or if that thought hadn't flashed through her mind, then she would surely have joined her mom and Kenny.

She hadn't even walked two yards when the whole house came crashing down. She turned around at the horrible sound of wood breaking and glass spreading everywhere and jumped backwards instinctively, right before a huge piece of wood fell where she had been standing a few seconds ago. Still trembling, she picked up her dolls and the picture, holding them close to her. She ran to the tree, finding almost immediately the two bumps of soil. She left her stuff there and went out to look for a few flowers. It took her a while, because after the hurricane there weren't many flowers left, but after an exhaustive research, she could find some decent ones to bring to her dear mom and brother. After bringing her little homage to her deceased family, she sat down and played a little with her dolls. She fell asleep right onto the wet soil, hugging her dolls and holding her picture with her free arm.

By the time she was telling them this, they had arrived to the place where the updated buggy rested between the ferns and vegetation. Everybody climbed onto their original seats, except that this time, Aleia sat in between Lilo and Stitch. The vehicle rose over the ocean once more, bringing them all slowly to Kauai.

Again, the silence was dominant. This time, though, Lilo spoke up.

"So, how do you feel now, Aleia?" She asked to the little pup beside her, noticing that she was still somewhat sad. Aleia turned to look at her and shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm okay, I guess…" She spoke softly, without lifting her eyes to look at the raven haired girl. Stitch put an arm around her.

"I bet you're totally exhausted. Why don't you sleep a little before we get home?" He suggested. Aleia only nodded and cuddled up against her dad. Lilo looked at both of the aliens, but especially at the smallest one.

"I know how you feel." The black haired girl started. Aleia immediately turned her attention to her. "You still don't quite believe that your mom and brother are already gone, and you think that sooner or later you're going to wake up from this nightmare, and everything will be the same than before: that everybody's going to be just fine and that you all will be a happy family again, just like before..." At this point, Lilo's eyes started to water up, having to go again through the first days after her parents were gone, when she was just a confused five-year-old girl.

"You feel that even though there's still someone that cares for you, something's missing, and you can't fill the empty place that remained inside you. You can't believe it is real, but in the few moments you do, you feel like shouting out why. Why… everything. That it's not fair. That if they're gone, then why you're still alive. Why… they had to leave you, when you most needed them. You miss them and love them more than you ever did, but now they're not here to hear you say this to them. It's plain frustrating and confusing, and your head keeps spinning like a twister, and you just don't know what to do. It almost makes you crazy…"

Aleia looked at Lilo for a few seconds, totally shocked. How could this girl know so much of her feelings when she had barely met her this morning? Yes, she had already realized that Lilo was a very sensitive and smart girl, but she didn't imagine she would be this smart… or this sensitive about the death of people she was so unclose to.

"How do you know that?" The pup asked in a whisper. Stitch looked up from Aleia to Lilo, knowing the answer of the teenage girl. Lilo wiped up a few tears with the back of her hand, but more were starting to make their way out of her brown eyes.

"When I was about your age, about five years old, I…well… my parents died." She did a little pause, trying to get her composure back, but it wouldn't work. Everytime she remembered those days, the pain would be just as strong as it was back then. Aleia's eyes had widened up in surprise. Her father hadn't told her about this, and until now, she had thought that Nani was Lilo's mother (for some reason, she thought Nani could be Lilo's mom). She immediately felt sympathy for the human girl beside her.

"What happened to them? Was it a hurricane too?" She asked softly. Stitch's arms stiffened around her, bringing her a bit closer. He felt he was about to cry as well; he did never really understand how important and painful it had been for Lilo to lose her parents. He had never lost to death anybody he cared for, so how could he really understand? But now that he had gone through this whole thing, he felt he could truly comprehend, at the point of feeling the same pain that Lilo and Aleia were feeling at that moment.

Lilo smiled a bit, though it was more of an irony smile than a happiness one. "Well, it was something like that. It had been raining the whole day, and they went out in the car. Nani and I stayed home. Somebody called in the early morning, like at 3 am or so. They told us they had crashed on a tree and that they were dead."

"I felt that pain for a long while until I met your father." She stopped on that part, unsure about going on with her story or stopping it there, somehow. However, the pup's eyes encouraged her to go on. "We were really good friends. Best friends, actually. I almost never thought of my parents anymore since I met him; he helped me to get over this horrible experience by being a true friend to me. We were really close, but…"

"But…?" Aleia asked expectantly. However, Lilo felt she had gone already too far with her story. She wasn't ready yet, and she didn't want to open up that much to the girl, and besides, Jumba and David were listening too, which made her feel somewhat awkward. Stitch was looking at her in a funny way too, wondering if she would already tell them how much she suffered because of him.

No, it was too soon to talk about that, she decided. However, she didn't want Aleia to think she had something to hide, so she ended up with another different thing to what she had been about to tell.

"But, well… I still feel sad about my parents' death. It doesn't matter how close you get to someone, or how good friends they are with you. You'll always feel that empty place that belongs to the people that left…"

Nope, that didn't seem like a correct ending, so she added up some more. "However, something that really makes me feel better is thinking that someday I'll see them again, and while I'm still here they'll be waiting for me. What I do here will make them feel proud of me, so I try to leave aside my sadness and be happy for them, because they wouldn't like me to be sad."

"Oh…" Aleia mused thoroughly. "So… Mom and Kenny will be proud of me if I'm happy instead of sad?"

"Yeah, well… that's the point." Lilo smiled again, this time in a comforting manner and with genuine happiness. "They wouldn't like you to live sad because they left. Nobody that loves you likes to know you're sad, after all."

"Okay… I guess that makes sense." Aleia smiled to Lilo. "I'll try to be happy for them. I'll make them proud."

"That's great." Lilo nodded and then supported her head on the upper part of her seat. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, feeling tired. She had to go through a lot of things during that day. However, a childish voice made her open her eyes once more.

"Lilo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem. Sleep well, Aleia."

Both girls closed their eyes, one cuddled up against Stitch and the other one only resting her head on the upper part of her seat. Stitch kissed Aleia's forehead goodnight and then let his gaze fall on Lilo, who had already fallen asleep. He sighed and looked down at his daughter, who had fallen asleep as soon as she had stopped moving.

He had just realized how alike Lilo and Aleia were and wondered what would become of them. He had noticed that both girls felt sympathy for the other and liked each other almost immediately after they met. Lilo could be very helpful to Aleia after all she had to go through with the death of her parents, even more helpful than himself. After all, she knew better than he how Aleia felt at that moment. For a second, maybe not even a second, the idea of Lilo being Aleia's mom flashed through his mind, but he immediately shook it off.

_Gosh Stitch, no! What the blitznac are you thinking about! _He scolded himself. _Lilo and Aleia could become something like best friends or sisters… never that! Dang… you must be REALLY tired to be thinking crazy things like that one, Stitch. You better get some rest._

He fell asleep after a while as well. However, he woke up when he felt that the buggy wasn't moving anymore. He stirred slightly and looked around, realizing they were already in front of their house. He noticed some missing weight on his right arm, where Aleia had been sleeping. He turned to his side and what he saw made him freeze for a few seconds, but he smiled almost immediately.

Aleia was cuddled up against Lilo, while the human girl's protective arm had gone around the kid and held her to her. Even though both of them were soundly asleep, a smile was etched onto their faces. Stitch looked at them for a few seconds more before having to take his little daughter into his arms; however, Aleia woke up as soon as she felt the lack of warmth on her body.

She yawned. "Are we already home, daddy?"

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